I can't believe I'm doing this but ...............
Wing&prayer,
I paid for ALL my training up to FATPL level - a long time ago - and have been in the happy position of amortising other ratings by bond. Oh, and redundancy, BTW.
I did not receive any 'golden handshake' from my military service; what I did receive was a one-off gratuity, a payment in lieu of a pension which I do not and will never have from HM Government. The idea of a gratuity was that it be invested to eventually buy an annuity. Sadly, the DSS has/had other ideas and insisted that it be spent on day to day expenses which, as you may know, do not conveniently come to an end at the same time as employment! Furthermore, a significant proportion of the rest was spent on IR, hours-building, exams...you know the drill.
My point in general is simply this: No-one owes you a career as an airline pilot. It is simply a business for the proprietors and could just as well be a car factory or a cake shop, it doesn't matter. If they can continue their trade and get their employees to buy their own training then bully for them. Keeps the accountants happy, dunnit?
If you wanted to be a barrister, you would have to fund your first degree and then find upwards of £35K for the Bar Conversion Course. If you want to be an actor, you will have to do a succession of crappy jobs in rep., living in squalor on almost no money, before - just maybe - getting a break. The list goes on; you get the point.
If, before you start, you can foresee a point at which you will have to stop 'investing', don't start. Your choice.
Sadly, we no longer live in a world where you can pass an interview and pitch up at Hamble for goodness knows how long on a salary and drift into a lifetime career with BOAC and retirement at 55 on a huge pension.
It's nobody's 'fault' and , certainly, nobody's 'right' to be a pilot. It's just the way the world is. Aspirants have to just check the facts, compare them with how badly they want to do it and get over it.
It's called 'life'.